Weir Minerals relocates to exploit mining boom

Updated
June 21, 2013 09:45:00

Times are tough for Australian manufacturing even though the Australian dollar has fallen from its recent highs. But while some companies are struggling to survive by going off-shore, a big US company is reversing the trend. Weir Minerals has moved its divisional headquarters to Australia to be closer to the production phase of the mining boom.

But while some companies are staring down the prospect of off-shoring because of the high dollar and tighter economic times, Weir has broken the mould.

Late last year it "in-shored" - relocating its divisional headquarters from the United States to Australia.

(Question to Howard Cullis) It looks like hard and hot work. Just how hot does it get down there?

Weir's plant manager Howard Cullis took me on a tour of the foundry as a pour took place - the molten metal exceeding 1400 degrees.

HOWARD CULLIS: I think geographically we're well placed to service the whole of Australia. What we do better here is our lead time. We have probably some of the shortest lead times with what we manufacture anywhere else in this business so the customer gets what he wants when he wants it.

PETER RYAN: Dean Jenkins is Weir Minerals' managing director. Away from the foundry, up in the company boardroom, he says basing the division in Australia was a no-brainer.

DEAN JENKINS: I think for us it's a matter of being prepared to make quick decisions and being flexible about where you do things and what you do and making sure you understand in a local environment what really adds value that customers will pay for. And for us here in Australia it's about how do we get parts to the customer very quickly. And to be in Australia, have a manufacturing capability in Australia allows us to do that.

PETER RYAN: What do you think when you see the headlines about companies moving offshore, doom and gloom, where is Australia going to be ending up in manufacturing?

DEAN JENKINS: I think the challenge for us in Australia and manufacturing in general is to understand what we want to be good at, understand where we can add value and where we can be niche and not try to do things that other people, lots of other people do.

PETER RYAN: So make parts that miners want to buy and be on the spot so you're a local company in a lucrative business?

DEAN JENKINS: Yeah, for us it's about making speciality product with special materials that other people can't do as quickly as possible and much faster than other people can do, and about being able to get it to the customer very, very quickly.

And in a lot of cases a lot of the products we make are very large as well and so the ability to be able to manufacture locally helps with the shipping and logistics challenges that some of the mines have.

PETER RYAN: Weir employs a thousand people in Australia - half of them here at Artarmon - evidence that local manufacturing is not necessarily fading, despite the softer outlook for the resources sector.